socialDeck: Rockstar Engineer

socialDeck is looking for a Rockstar Engineer:

We’re building a platform for cross platform gaming — technology that enables games to be played between mobile and the web. Think playing games from your iPhone to Facebook to BlackBerry to MySpace.

We are looking for the brightest and most talented software engineer who will work with the platform team on building out our gaming platform in the cloud.

He/she will design and implement highly-scalable server systems to connect to the world’s most popular networks.

He/she will also be involved in building our client frameworks for iPhone, BlackBerry, Facebook, and Android.

The Good
They’ve got a pleasant web presence and decent press. They’re in an interesting/growing space: mobile / web social gaming. They seem to be taking a bit of a product angle with their talk of ‘a platform’.

Sounds like they’re funded, with nice space. The technology stack sounds reasonable, and the technology would probably be varied and interesting. And, frankly, it’s games. Working on games can be fun.

The Bad
They’re a startup, so odds are good that they’re not paying terribly well, although you’d have to inquire to find out.

Also, someone stop these people before they make another video. Teach them how to use screencasting software instead of a handheld cam pointed at a laptop on an angle.

Heck, I’ll even volunteer to help get ‘em kickstarted. A couple hours with Screenflow and their demo would take on new life.

What’s Missing?
Where are they? What’s this position pay? How many other people work there? How long is their funding good for? What’s involved in the platform, and what’s the expected mix of game/platform development?

YMMV
Your mileage may vary on working for an early-stage startup, especially if the compensation is low.

The Location
Besides ‘King West’, it’s hard to say. Probably a little off the beaten path if you’re not already west of the core, or driving. You’d need to inquire to know more.

In Summary
Game platform and game development on King West for a startup.

Polar Mobile Really Really Wants Software Developers

Polar, or someone working on their behalf, is putting out feelers left right and centre. I don’t know how they deal with the volume of leads this would presumably generate:

 

• careerbuilder/teamrecruiter
• ajilon
• workopolis
• craigslist
• workopolis/sapphire
• datalist/monster
• peoplesource
• sapphire
• … and the list goes on

They are apparently looking to grow significantly during the year, but the sheer volume of posts leading back to the same spot is pretty draining if you’re reading a wide array of feeds.  Historically, I’ve viewed this kind of search behavior as a bad sign.

Unspecified: Contract iPhone Developer

Simple and to the point, this post implies that if you’ve got iPhone experience, they’re willing to pay a good contract rate for your skills.  There’s no information to go on, but if you’ve got the skills, then you could follow up.

I’m inclined to believe that less than fifty percent of these brusque posts are actually a real job with no serious flaws, but I guess for a few areas, like iPhone dev, I could imagine that some of you are willing to take a risk now and again and find out who’s on the other end.

Hobby Job: MacWorld iPhone App Reviewer

If you’re interested in writing short reviews of iPhone apps for a small fee, macworld would like to hear from you.  Seems like the kind of hobby that someone already doing mobile / iPhone development might enjoy doing for relatively limited compensation.

iPhone Technical Lead

Most of the iPhone postings I see in Toronto fall into one of two categories:

• Sketchy: someone wants to do something on the iPhone and isn’t at all clear if they have a job, a partnership, or if they’re just harvesting emails for spam.  Too short and lacking in any detail that makes it feel real.
• Partnership:  someone would like you to do all the heavy lifting in return for a percentage of the profit.  Often, it’s not clear what the poster is bringing to the relationship.  Most of the time, I’d say if coding for free in return for some of the profit interests you, you’d be better off setting out on your own, or with people you know and trust, rather than some dude on Craigslist.

This posting, on the other hand, is pretty low on detail, but carries some vague verisimilitude with respect to a job posting.  It’s possible that there’s someone on the other end who actually wants to hire you and pay you a salary.  There’s nowhere near enough detail to be sure, bu t it’s still a step up from most.  There’s still not enough for a full writeup, but if you’ve got iPhone experience and you’d like to move into an iPhone-related employment, this might be worth further investigation.

Unspecified: Senior Java Developer

Stoakley-Dudley Consultants is helping an unspecified company look for a Senior Java Developer:

Our client is a leading solutions provider specializing in enterprise architecture, systems integration and internet applications. This client seeks the services of an experienced Senior Java Developer looking for an opportunity to apply their programming skills and adaptability to help solvereally interesting challenges.

The preferred candidate will work closely with Team Leads and Business Analysts to understand requirements and implement maintainable and testable software using web development tools. Your experience using J2EE tools to develop complex web applications will be an essential asset. Knowledge of WebLogic and other web application server technologies, the Struts framework and related tools, as well as experience with user interface development and deployment will also be important attributes.

The Good
The technology stack seems like a reasonable one, and there’s more detail on the technology than many postings, particularly recruiter-based ones.  If mobile application development plays a reasonable part of the role, it could be an interesting sector.  The emphasis on RESTful services instead of the WS-DeathStar implies a company with a sensible, simple take on architecture.  If the compensation really is attractive (which for a role like this, should be at least $80k, I’d say, and possibly higher), then it could be a good fit for someone looking to fill a senior developer role.

The Bad
What’s there is pretty good, which means that what’s bad is primarily the fact that there’s so much missing.  I might switch one or two of those technologies (Struts, Ant) for something else, but those are fairly minor quibbles.

What’s Missing
Almost everything except the technology stack and a little bit about the role.  What’s the company?  Is it a startup, and if so, what’s the funding situation?  If it’s not a startup, what’s the revenue and burn rate, and how has that changed with the downturn?  What do they do, and how does that connect to mobile development?  What projects would you be working on?  What’s the size and composition of the team or teams on which you’d be working?  Where is this company located?  What’s the process like?  

YMMV
Your mileage may vary when it comes to responding to a positino with such limited detail and working with a recruiter.

In Summary
A decent recruiter posting; what’s there is reasonable, although there’s a lot missing.  If you’re looking for a Sr. Java position, this might be worth further investigation to see if the missing details are interesting.

Unspecified: VP of Product Management

There hasn’t been many interesting detailed posts lately, so I’m going to look at a few positions that I might not otherwise.  Robert Half is helping an unspecified company look for a VP of Product Management:

Our client located in the financial district of downtown Toronto is seeking a VP of Product Management to lead their product strategy and service delivery activities in the mobile commerce space. The ideal candidate will define the product strategy, tactical direction and roadmap to support our three lines of business: over-the-air payment services, Near Field Communication (NFC) services and mobile wallet services. 

This could be this initiative?  Or Enstream?  Hard to say.  Not much to go on, but it’s a senior role in an emerging space, so it can’t be all bad.

Unspecified: Mobile Application Testing

Innovoice is helping an unspecified company look for someone who can help them with mobile application testing:

The successful candidate will be experienced with wireless technologies and specifically with an understanding of the application technologies that reside in mobile handsets and other wireless devices. The candidate should also be able to assess these technologies from the perspective of company business objectives and strategies, and not just a technical standpoint. 

The candidate will be a member of the Terminal Certification Lab and, as such, will develop, maintain and execute the test plans pertaining to applications on our PCS and iDEN product portfolio. He/she will also contribute to the development of processes, methodologies, testing techniques and product development. 

Roles/Responsibilities: 

• Conduct the execution of test plans for client applications and services; 
• Develop and evolve the test plans pertaining to the handset client applications (e.g., MMS, WAP, content download/streaming, Java™ ME, Video, LBS); 
• Contribute to the development and evolution of testing methodologies – execution, verification/validation, reporting (e.g. automation, centralized issue management); 
• Contribute to the development and evolution of the processes and procedures required to integrate with multiple functional groups; 
• Assist in the early evaluation of candidate handsets for suitability in entering the certification cycle; 
• Stay current with testing methodologies and standards relating to the wireless industry; 
• Stay current with wireless technologies associated with service offerings (e.g., MMS, WAP, content download/streaming, Java™ ME, Video, LBS); 
• Assess and prepare test materials relating to new technologies identified as necessary for implementing new service offerings; 
• Operate computers, servers, test equipment, diagnosis software and test automation software, as applicable to the execution of the test plans and methodologies. 

Although the company is unspecified, a quick google search implies that this might be Telus.  In which case, it might be interesting to note that Telus is opening a new office at 25 York Street, right by Union Station.

The Good
Mobile has been a growth area for some time and it seems like it’s likely to remain one in the years to come.  It could be both interesting and technically challenging, and it sounds like this is likely to be with one of the big carriers, if not, in fact, Telus.  Working out good ways to test location-based services, video, Java applications, messaging and so forth is a pretty wide range of activities that could be challenging and varied.

The Bad
The technologies they mention specifically, CDMA and iDEN are not the technology on which Bell and Telus seem to have pinned their long-term hopes.  As Telus and Bell start migrating away from CDMA, will your role need to shift, or are you being tied to the technology they’re looking to replace?

They’re not looking for much experience; does that mean it’s not a particularly senior role and won’t be well-compensated, or does that simply mean they’re accepting of a wide range of experiences and willing to pay accordingly?  It seems like they’re open to people with advanced skillsets, so I’d hope the latter.

What’s Missing
What’s the company, is it Telus, or something else?  Where would the job be, at 25 York Street, Scarborough, or somewhere else?  Who would you be reporting to and working with?  What would the local organization structure around you be?  What’s the compensation like?  What’s the process?  How serious are they about test automation — are you likely to be spending a lot of your time manually testing handsets?

YMMV
Your mileage may vary when it comes to working in testing; when I last ran a role survey of my readers, there weren’t many looking for testing/qa roles.  Then again, if I don’t post interesting testing roles when I find them, it’ll stay that way.

In Summary
If you’re interested in a testing role, this sounds like an interesting and varied role that might be worth further examination.

Unspecified: iPhone Developers (Immediate)

Someone is looking for several iPhone developers who can start work immediately:

- be familiar and preferably experienced with Xcode, Cocoa (Cocoa Touch), and Objective-C 
- be able to provide tweaks and bug testing after product release 
- have adequate time to devote to development (please make this clear in your email) 
- value clean code that must be constantly tested and reduced to provide a fluid and uncluttered program 
- above all, quality driven (we refuse to release a product that is not up to standards expected by paying customers) 

The Good
Their desire to have people start immediately could give you a little leverage if you have the skills they need.  And, from what I can see, iPhone development is interesting and potentially a good long-term career move, given the increasing focus on mobile devices, of which the iPhone is currently king.

The Bad
Their desire to have people start immediately could speak to time pressure that might only get worse.   There’s very little information here, and what’s there doesn’t leap out at me as being great.

YMMV
Like several other iPhone positions that have come through, they’re clearly looking for partners rather than employees — they want to pay you on App Store revenue, which is good and bad: you’re trading security for revenue potential.  You’d want to evaluate the potential of the idea very carefully.  As is often true here, if you really have the wherewithal to work on an app store application without needing income, then perhaps you should be working on your own, not someone else’s?

In Summary
If you’re in the rare position of being able to work for 4-8 weeks on an iPhone application without needing to pay lots of bills in that period (or with lots of spare time) and you’re interested in taking on a partnership arrangement with an unspecified party under heavy time pressure, you might inquire.  Most of you will wisely consider many of those points to be a deal-breaker.

A Bouquet of iPhone / Mobile Little Bites

I’ve seen very few postings for iPhone dev that look like really credible jobs, so … if you’re just looking for a side gig to get into the iPhone, you might want to look into some of the listings that follow, but if you’re looking for a serious job with a serious company, I’m not entirely sure if you’ll find one here.

Mostly, I think people smell an opportunity here and are scrambling to take advantage, although, to be honest, I think the easy advantage was to the first movers here, and we’re past that, so now you probably have to do a serious application to cut through the noise.

We’ll call this Mobile Monday:

• Someone is looking for a software designer and software engineer.  Some parts of this posting sound a lot like the Cocoa Touch Games posting, so it’s possible this is a duplicate, but other parts make me think it’s something else.  Again, this is a partnership for a cut of the sales, not a straight-out job.
• Someone is looking for Cocoa/Objective-C/iPhone development but … that’s about all we know.  Job?  Contract?  Partnership?  Email harvesting for spam?
• Another iPhone development posting with no information.
• A startup at Yonge/Eglinton looking for an iPhone developer to help them build the company.

There was another posting that called for a mobile software developer:

- Design, implement, and test client applications for various devices such as Blackberry, iPhone and Windows Mobile devices.
- Actively participate in porting applications to new devices.
- A firm understanding of the intricacies of mobile data networks is ideal.

This looks more credible to me, a little more like an actual job, although not a very senior one.  The location’s a little far afield, and there’s not a lot of information, but it feels slightly more solid.